From the child’s low vantage point, the first thing to come into view was the carpeted floor.

Beneath the fallen man’s head, the intricate pattern of the carpet gradually turned red.

At first, she did not understand what she was seeing. However, when she leaned further into the room, she realized that it was blood.

A dark pool was gathering beneath where he lay collapsed on the carpet.

‘Master!’

Bella clamped a hand over her mouth and stared, unable to move, at the face turned at an unnatural angle, the eyes still open. The body belonged to none other than the master of the house.

A scream rose to her throat, but terror silenced it. If she made a sound, she would be discovered.

‘I have to run. Before they notice me.’

The thought had barely formed in her mind when her body started to react. She took one cautious step backward, then another. Each movement felt deafening; she was convinced that the slightest sound would give her away.

Then she lifted her head and met the gaze of a man breathing harshly in the darkness.

The whites of his eyes were bloodshot and his veins stood out starkly against his flushed skin. His stare was fixed on the child beyond the doorway.

“Who—!”

In that instant, Bella sat bolt upright.

A faint wash of moonlight slipped through the curtains, casting a pale glow over the bedroom during the quiet hour before dawn. The room looked undisturbed and peaceful, as if nothing had happened.

It was only a dream.

Her mind knew this, yet her heart continued to pound violently against her ribs.

Her cold, clammy fingers tightened around the collar of her nightclothes. Each breath dragged painfully through her chest, and cold sweat trickled down her back. She remained curled up like that for a long time, doing nothing but forcing herself to breathe slowly and steadily.

At last, she carefully pushed herself upright.

Her damp nightclothes clung to her skin, feeling strangely unfamiliar — almost as though this body did not fully belong to her. She opened and closed her trembling hands, remembering the small hands of the child in her dream.

It had been an ominous dream.

She wanted to brush it aside and tell herself that it was nothing more than a nightmare born of frayed nerves.

But she couldn’t.

Every detail had been too vivid. Too real.

In fact, it felt more like a memory of something she had once lived through than a dream.

‘Could this be connected to the memories I lost?’

If so, where had that mansion been? To which family had she belonged?

She tried to picture the darkened corridor again, but the longer she reached for it, the more the details blurred, leaving behind only a shapeless dread.

The low line of sight. The biting cold. The adults’ vicious argument.

And—

‘Those eyes.’

Unconsciously, Bella clenched her fist.

She had only seen the back of the guest, not his face. But the gaze that had met hers in that final moment would not fade.

His eyes had fixed on the child beyond the door, burning with a mixture of fury and exhilaration.

There was something familiar about them.

It was that which unsettled her most.

‘Where have I seen those eyes before…?’

She searched her memory, but nothing came to mind. The harder she tried, the muddier her thoughts became until she could barely sketch the outline of his face.

If this dream was indeed a fragment of a lost memory, why was it tormenting her now?

It was still early, but she could not return to sleep because of the rush of thoughts. She sat on the edge of the bed, doing nothing, until dawn slowly broke.

***

Although a carefully prepared meal had been set out on the table, Bella could only manage to lift her cutlery and then put it down again; she was unable to eat properly.

Despite the delicious dishes in front of her, her mouth felt dry. She wasn’t lacking in appetite, but whenever she tried to swallow, her stomach tightened unpleasantly.

Logan did not miss the slightest change in her.

“You seem a little out of sorts today. Is something wrong?”

Bella’s hand, which had been slowly cutting her steak, paused. She shook her head as though it were nothing.

“It’s nothing. I just didn’t sleep very well.”

“Did you have a bad dream?”

She fell silent for a moment.

The scene that had kept her from closing her eyes again rose unbidden in her mind. She could not lie.

Setting down her utensils, Bella looked at him.

“A little. But not enough to worry you, Your Grace.”

“It was only a dream,” she added with a faint smile.

Logan did not press further, but concern lingered in his gaze.

“I…”

Bella hesitated, then spoke again. She considered telling him about the dream.

It was about the man whose face she could not remember, but whose eyes were painfully vivid in her memory. Every time she revisited the memory, a strangely familiar image surfaced: a face bearing a striking resemblance to Count Everett’s.

This troubled her.

“It’s nothing.”

She almost asked if he knew anything about it, but then she shook her head and swallowed her words.

Logan looked puzzled for a moment, but she offered no explanation.

Since the Jack Hunter incident, he had become excessively protective. She didn’t want to give him another reason to worry.

‘I won’t be in the capital much longer. I should make the most of the time I have left.’

Above all, she felt it would be a waste to spend time with the duke while burdened by dark thoughts.

Sharing a meal and talking about their day while sitting across from the man she loved — such an ordinary moment would have been unimaginable in Rosedale. That was why it felt so precious.

However, perhaps because of that, a quiet unease trailed behind her — the fear that this happiness would not last.

***

Bella sat by the window and picked up the newspaper that had been delivered by the hotel staff. Although she already knew what the article would contain, she could not calm the tension tightening in her chest.

Only after taking a slow, steady breath did she unfold the paper.

She skimmed past the front-page announcement of the birth of the Crown Prince’s son. On the following page, a photograph immediately caught her eye: Jack Hunter.

The man in the photograph bore no resemblance to the person she had met at the matchmaking meeting.

Dressed in a prison uniform and escorted by imperial officers, he appeared dull and unfocused. The confidence he had once exuded — his straight back and unshakable composure — had disappeared. Instead, he huddled forward with his head lowered, as though trying to avoid the camera’s gaze.

The image felt unfamiliar. Almost unreal.

Bella lowered her eyes to the article beneath it.

He had been arrested on charges of forcible molestation. During the subsequent investigation, multiple instances of corporate misconduct came to light, resulting in his detention. The company, already buckling under the weight of contract penalties and lawsuits resulting from his actions as president, was ultimately acquired by Fraser Enterprises for a fraction of its former value. The article noted that mounting legal fees would consume most of the acquisition cost.

He had once spoken proudly of achieving success at a young age. He had talked about starting a family.

Now, all that remained was debt.

Bella stared at his name in the newspaper for a long time, unable to bring herself to fold it up.

Instead of anger, she felt a strange numbness.

Even now, she could still hear his drunken voice if she closed her eyes. She could still feel the bruising pressure of his hand gripping her arm as he threatened her. Yet seeing his downfall laid out in clean, orderly print felt almost unreal.

She had grown up as a maid and had been taught never to raise her voice, even in the face of injustice. From childhood, she had been repeatedly told that no one would stand up for her.

Even when she was wronged, she was expected to remain silent. To endure. To forget. To carry on as though nothing had happened.

That was how a maid survived.

For someone raised that way, witnessing Jack Hunter’s complete downfall was difficult to comprehend.

For a moment, she wondered if losing everything over a single act was too severe a punishment. But she slowly shook her head.

What he had done was undeniably wrong. He was merely facing the consequences of his actions. It was only natural to hold someone accountable for their wrongdoings.

For the first time, Bella felt entitled to such justice, too.